Halloween is a holiday in many English speaking countries that is celebrated on the night of October 31st. Children wear costumes and they go to people’s homes saying “Trick or treat!” to ask for candy and then the people give it to them. People sometimes dress up asghosts, witches, goblins, and other scary things for Halloween.

The word Halloween is from Hallowe’en. This is a contraction of All Hallow’s Eve. All Hallow’s Eve is the day before the Catholic holiday All Saints holy day. All Saints holy day was once called All Hallows. This was short for All Hallowed Souls. Hallowed means holy.

This holiday All Saints holy day was made by Christian missionaries. It was the same day as a Pagan holiday. The missionaries came to areas where Pagans lived. They tried to make the Pagans believe in Christianity. So they made some Pagan holidays into Christian holidays.

The Pagan holiday that All Saints holy day replaced was the Day of the Dead. Many Wiccans and modern Pagans celebrate the Day of the Dead. This is a happy holiday (even though it says ‘Dead’). It is the day that the souls of dead people come back to Earth. So in Pagan religions it is not about scary things. It is about being with (remembering) family or friends who have died.

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4.Where did the missionaries go and why?

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Answers: Halloween is celebrated on the night of October 31st./Children say „Trick or treat!” to ask for candy and then the people give it to them./Hallowed means holy. /The missionaries went to areas where Pagans lived to try to make them believe in Christianity.